Idiom

IDIOM

What is idiom?
Idioms exist in every language. An idiom is a word or phrase that is not taken literally, like “bought the farm” has nothing to do with purchasing real estate, but refers to dying. Idiom also refers to a dialect or jargon of a group of people, either in a certain region or a group with common interests, like in science, music, art, or business.
(Idiom atau disebut juga dengan ungkapan adalah gabungan kata yang membentuk arti baru di mana tidak berhubungan dengan kata pembentuk dasarnya).
Example

1. She is pulling my leg. - to pull someone's legmeans to tease them by telling them something untrue.
2. When will you drop them a line? - to drop someone a line means to send a note to or call someone. 
3. You should keep an eye out for that. - to keep an eye out for something means to maintain awareness of it so  that you notice it as it occurs. 
4.  I can't keep my head above water. - to keep one's head above water means to manage a situation. 
5.  It's raining cats and dogs. - to rain cats and dogs means to rain very heavily (a downpour).

Common Idioms
Some idioms are used by most people that speak English; others are used by a more select group.
Common idioms that refer to people include:

• A chip on your shoulder - means you are holding a grudge
• High as a kite - means you are drunk or on drugs
• Sick as a dog - means you are very ill

Idioms that refer to your actions would be:

• Rub someone the wrong way - meaning to annoy or bother
• Jump the gun - would mean to be doing something early
• Pay the piper - means you need to face the consequences of your actions

Some idioms use color words to convey other meanings. For example, there are several that use the word “blue:”

• “The blues” can refer to both a style of music and feeling sad.
• If something occurs rarely, it is said to happen “once in a blue moon”, because a blue moon is two full moons in one month, which doesn’t happen often.
• “Out of the blue” means something happens that was unexpected.  

Learning a Language with Idioms
Because of idioms, learning a language can be complicated. After you can conjugate verbs, and know a lot of words, you may still have difficulty speaking the language with native users.
This is partly due to the use of idioms and would also depend of which region of a country you were in. Idiom usage is not just regional, but also varies according to people’s interests and social groups.
The best way to pick up on the meaning of certain idioms would be to converse with people and ask them for a clarification of the idiom if you are not clear about the idiom they used. There are also sites on the Internet which will help explain the meaning of idioms.

Idioms Around the Globe 
There are certain things that happen in every culture and there are idioms to deal with them.

• In Norwegian and Czech, “walking around hot porridge” refers to beating around the bush, which is also an idiom meaning not getting to the point.
• If you are in Italy or Turkey and you say you are “as hungry as a wolf” then you are starving.

If it is raining in large amounts, most cultures have an interesting way of saying that:

• In English, it would be “raining cats and dogs”
• In Africa, they might say “it's raining old women with clubs”

• Many languages refer to heavy rain as coming in buckets or as rain coming out of a bucket.

• In Norway they say “it's raining female trolls”
• The Irish say “it's throwing cobblers knives”

Comparing idioms between countries can also be interesting:

• In Finnish, “with long teeth” means you are doing something that you really don’t want to do
• In French, “to have long teeth” means you are ambitious.

The key to understanding the local idioms is to listen carefully and to ask questions of local speakers.

Idioms In the Arts
There are many idioms in the field of music.

• If you “fine tune” something, you make small improvements to it.
• “Changing your tune” means changing your mind.
• If you are “whistling Dixie” or “whistling in the dark” you are overly positive about something.
• If you try and make a decision too early without knowing all the facts, people may tell you that “it’s not over ‘till the fat lady sings.”

Drama and dance have idioms, too, like:

• “Break a leg” means good luck.
• If you are a “ham” you overact.
• If you say, “it takes two to tango” you mean that more than one person is at fault or involved.
• If you “tap dance” your way out of a sticky situation, then that implies that you get out of it in a clever way.
• Being “in the spotlight” means you are the center of attention

Homonym

Homonym

Definitions

 

Homonyms are two or more words that have the same sound or spelling but differ inmeaning. Adjectives: homonymic andhomonymous.

Generally, the term homonym refers both tohomophones (words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings, such as pairand pear) and to homographs (words that are spelled the same but have different meanings, such as "bow your head" and "tied in a bow").

Note that some dictionaries and textbooks define and distinguish these three terms in different ways. Some equate homonyms only with homophones (words that sound the same). Others equate homonymns only with homographs (words that look the same). See the observations below by Tom McArthur and David Rothwell. Also see Homophones and Homographs: An American Dictionary, 4th ed., by James B. Hobbs (McFarland & Company, 2006).

In linguistics, a homonym is one of a group of words that share the same pronunciation but have different meanings, whether spelled the same or not. A more restrictive definition sees homonyms as words that are simultaneouslyhomographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of their pronunciation)andhomophones (words that share the same pronunciation, regardless of their spelling). The relationship between a set of homonyms is called homonymy. Examples of homonyms are the pair stalk (part of a plant) and stalk(follow/harass a person) and the pair left (past tense of leave) and left (opposite of right). A distinction is sometimes made between "true" homonyms, which are unrelated in origin, such as skate (glide on ice) and skate (the fish), and polysemous homonyms, or polysemes, which have a shared origin, such as mouth (of a river) and mouth (of an animal).

In non-technical contexts, the term "homonym" may be used (somewhat confusingly) to refer to words that are either homographs orhomophones. The words row (propel with oars) and row (argument) and row (a linear arrangement of seating) are considered homographs, while the words read (peruse) andreed (waterside plant) would be considered homophones; under this looser definition, both groups of words represent groups of homonyms.

 

Example Homonym

Homonym	Contoh Kalimat Homonym
bat (noun = kelelawar) bat (noun = pemukul)	Bats may have rabies like dogs or cats. (Kelelawar mungkin rabies seperti anjing atau kucing.)
	The boy hit a thief with an aluminium baseball bat last night. (Anak itu memukul seorang pencuri dengan  tongkat baseball aluminium semalam.)
can (modal = dapat) can (noun = kaleng)	I can‘t make up my mind whether to buy a car or house. (Saya tidak dapat memutuskan membeli mobil atau rumah.)
	That can may made of aluminium. (Kaleng itu mungkin terbuat dari aluminium.)
fine (adjective= bagus) fine (noun = denda)	She looked fine yesterday. (Dia tampak baik kemarin.)
	You should pay the fine or go to the court. (Kamu harus membayar denda atau pergi ke pengadilan.)
left (past tense = meninggalkan) left (adverb = kiri)	He left the room 30 minutes ago. (Dia meninggalkan ruangan 30 menit yang lalu.)
	Turn left at the post office. (Belok kiri di kantor pos.)
light (noun = lampu) light (adjective = terang)	The hurricane damaged many traffic lights. (Angin topan merusak banyak lampu lalu lintas.)
	I prefer a light color for my furniture. (Saya lebih suka warna yang terang untuk mebel.)
match (noun = geretan) match (noun = pertandingan)	He can light a fire with onematch. (Dia dapat menyalakan api dengan satu korek.)
	I’ll watch the live matchonline. (Saya akan menonton pertandingan langsung itu secara online.)
stalk (noun = tangkai, batang) stalk (verb = mengikuti)	This vegetable has grayish-green stalks. (Sayuran ini mempunyai batang hijau keabu-abuan.)
	I’m not interested to stalkhim on facebook or twitter. (Saya tidak tertarik untuk mengamatinya di facebook atau twitter.)
tie (verb = mengikat) tie (noun = dasi)	My friend tied the box with a red ribbon. (Teman saya mengikat kotak itu dengan pita merah.)
	He wanted to know how to put a tie on properly. (Dia ingin tau bagaimana memakai dasi dengan benar.)

• Accept (to receive) and Except (excluding)
• Acts (things done) and Ax (chopping tool)
• Ad (advertisement) and Add (short for addition)
• Affect (to influence) and Effect (result)
• Aid (to assist) and Aide (an assistant)
• Air (stuff we breath) and Heir (one who will inherit)
• Aisle (walkway) and Isle (island)
• Allusion (an indirect reference) and Illusion (a misconception)
• Ant (insect) and Aunt (parent's sister)
• Bald (hairless) and Bawled (cried aloud)
• Band (a group) and Banned (forbidden)
• Capital (city) and Capitol (wealth and resources)
• Climactic (great intensity) and Climatic (weather conditions)
• Days (more than one day) and Daze (to bewilder)
• Die (to become dead) and Dye (coloring agent)
• Elicit (to bring out) and Illicit (unlawful)
• Emigrate from (leave one country) and Immigrate to (enter another country)
• Fair (even-handed) and Fare (payment)
• Fairy (imaginary magic person) and Ferry (river-crossing boat)
• Gilt (gold-plated) and Guilt (did wrong)
• Gorilla (large ape) and Guerrilla (military soldier)
• Knead (working bread dough) and Need (must have)
• Mail (postal delivery) and Male (masculine person)
• Principle (a basic truth) and Principal (head of a school/sum of money)
• Scene (visual location) and Seen (past tense of saw)
• Than (a comparison) and then (shows time)
• There (a place) and Their (belongs to them) and They're (they are)
• To (a preposition) and Too (an adverb) and Two (a number)
• Your (possessive pronoun) and You're (you are)

Polysemy

Polysemy

Polysemy is the association of one word with two or more distinct meanings. A polysemeis a word or phrase withmultiple meanings. According to some estimates, more than 40% of English words have more than one meaning.

The example of polysemy :

The king of dangdut Rhoma Irama was doing a concert in Surabaya.

Said senior meaningful king of all the singers

The king of the jungle hunting down his prey in the forest

the king said the ruling means the forest

The king of Majapahit kingdom is holding a contest

said the king meaningful ruler / leader of the region

Apple is by the typical poor town

said meaningful fruit fruits

Ayana has a baby named Nabila

said meaningful pieces of children

Nadzar bring souvenirs from Madura city

said fruit meaningful souvenirs

Chief Eagle headache thinking about a math assignment

said head body member means

My father became head of the household discipline

said the head of the family leader meaningful

The head of the BCA bank branch located in the area Rungkut

said the head of the branch office or supervising meaningful center.

El Ghifari is the captain of the football club AC Milan

said meaningfully ball sports equipment

Because the brawl, eyeball a student injured

said ball meaningful limb

Indivision is the parabola in Indonesia

said ball meaningful television antenna

Adi Bing Slamet Fertile Grandmother dragged to court

said table means the court.

He bought a desk for my brother

said table meaningful household furnishings.

Conlusion

Polisemi adalah bentuk bahasa (kata atau frase) yang memiliki makna lebih dari satu. Polisemi terjadi akibat pergeseran makna, sehingga mempunyai hubungan antara semua makna kata itu.

Polisemi berasal dari yunani yang bermakna “many sign” atau banyak tanda.

Examples and Observations

"The word good has many meanings. For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of five hundred yards, I should call him a good shot, but not necessarily a good man."

Hyperbole

HYPERBOLE

Hyperbole

Definition of hyperbole

There are many definition of hyperbole :

• ·     Hyperbole, derived from a Greek word meaning “over-casting” is a figure of speech, which involves anexaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis.

• ·         Hyperbole is a figure of speech that uses an exaggerated or extravagant statement to create a strong emotional response. As a figure of speech it is not intended to be taken literally. Hyperbole is frequently used for humour

• ·         A hyperbole is a literary device wherein the author uses specific words and phrases that exaggerate and overemphasize the basic crux of the statement in order to produce a grander, more noticeable effect.

Purpose of hyperbole

The purpose of hyperbole is to create a larger-than-life effect and overly stress a specific point. Such sentences usually convey an action or sentiment that is generally not practically/ realistically possible or plausible but helps emphasize an emotion.

It is a device that we employ in our day-to-day speech. For instance, when you meet a friend after a long time, you say, “Ages have passed since I last saw you”. You may not have met him for three or four hours or a day, but the use of the word “ages” exaggerates this statement to add emphasis to your wait.  Therefore, a hyperbole is an unreal exaggeration to emphasize the real situation

Hyperbole examples are given below.

• My grandmother is as old as the hills.
• Your suitcase weighs a ton!
• She is as heavy as an elephant!
• I am dying of shame.

It is important not to confuse hyperbole with simile and metaphor. It does make acomparison but unlike simile and metaphor, hyperbole has a humorous effect created by an overstatement

Examples from Classical English literature in which hyperbole was used successfully.

From William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, Act II, Scene II,

“Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No. This my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.”

Macbeth, the tragic hero, feels the unbearable prick of his conscience after killing the king. He regrets his sin and believes that even the oceans of the greatest magnitude cannot wash the blood of the king off his hands. We can notice the effective use of hyperboles in the given lines.

Function of Hyperbole

The above arguments make clear the use of hyperbole. In our daily conversation, we use hyperbole to emphasize for an amusing effect. However, in literature it has very serious implications. By using hyperbole, a writer or a poet makes common human feelings remarkable and intense to such an extent that they do not remain ordinary. In literature, usage of hyperbole develops contrasts. When one thing is described with an over-statement and the other thing is presented normally, a strikingcontrast is developed. This technique is employed to catch the reader’s attention

Collocation

Collocation

What is a collocation?

A collocation is two or more words that often go together. These combinations just sound "right" to native English speakers, who use them all the time. On the other hand, other combinations may be unnatural and just sound "wrong".

In corpus linguistics, collocation defines a sequence of words or terms that co-occur more often than would be expected by chance.

Look at these examples:

natural English...	unnatural English...
the fast train fast food	the quick train quick food
a quick shower a quick meal	a fast shower a fast meal

Why learn collocations?

Ø  Your language will be more natural and more easily understood.

Ø  You will have alternative and richer ways of expressing yourself.

Ø  It is easier for our brains to remember and use language in chunks or blocks rather than as single words.

Types of Collocation

There are several different types of collocation made from combinations of verb, noun, adjective etc. Some of the most common types are:

• Adverb + Adjective: completely satisfied (NOT downrightsatisfied)
• Adjective + Noun: excruciating pain (NOT excruciating joy)
• Noun + Noun: a surge of anger (NOT a rush of anger)
• Noun + Verb: lions roar (NOT lionsshout)
• Verb + Noun: commit suicide (NOTundertake suicide)
• Verb + Expression With Preposition:burst into tears (NOT blow up intears)
• Verb + Adverb: wave frantically (NOT wave feverishly)

Example Collocation

Have

• have a bath
• have a drink
• have a good time
• have a haircut

DO

• do business
• do nothing
• do someone a favor
• do the cooking

MAKE

• make a difference
• make a mess
• make a mistake
• make a noise

Take

• take a break
• take a chance
• take a look

BREAK

• break a habit
• break a leg
• break a promise
• break a record
• break a window

Synonym Antonym Hyponym

Synonym Antonym Hyponym

SYNONYM

Is the state or phenomenon in which the words that sound different, but have the same or identical meaning, as another word or phrase. All words can have a synonym. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and prepositions can have a synonym as long as both words are the same part of speech.

Examples of Synonyms

Adjectives: beautiful, lovely, gorgeous, stunning, striking

Nouns: House, home, dwelling, residence, abode, quarters

Verbs: jump, bound, leap, hop, skip

Prepositions: in, inside, within

ANTONYM

Is the state or phenomenon in which the words have the sense relation which involve the opposite of meaning.

Te word pairs of antonym can be divided into several types:

• Implicitly Gradable Pairs

Examples:
big - small
good - bad
fast - slow
young - old

• Complementary Pairs

Examples:
male - female
alive - dead
present - absent
awake - asleep

• Relational Pairs

EXAMPLES: 
buy - sell
push - pull
command - serve
give - take
teach - learn
master - servant
teacher - pupil
doctor . patient

HYPONYM

Is the state or phenomenon that shows  the relationship  between more general term, ( lexical representation) and the more specific instances for it.

Examples:
The lexical representation of:
red, yellow, green, blue, purple, black is ( color ).
Thus we can say that: " red " is  a hyponym of " color " and so on.


Examples:
clarinet, guitar, piano, trumpet, violin, are hyponyms because they are " musical instruments " but there is not a single word meaning  " musical instrument " that has these  words as its hyponyms .